PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would become prime minister for the fourth time on February 8, his brother and party president Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday.

“Today, the people of Sialkot announced their decision in favour of Nawaz Sharif,” Shehbaz told the party’s supporters in Sialkot. “The sea of people is showing that lion [the electoral symbol of PML-N].”

A day earlier, the PML-N unveiled its party manifesto in a press conference in Lahore. The party vowed to bring down the inflation rate to six per cent and the unemployment rate to five per cent by creating at least 10 million jobs during its five years in power.

The PML-N manifesto set a target of six per cent GDP growth, annual exports of $60 billion, and $40bn in yearly remittances from expatriates.

Without naming the PPP, Shehbaz told his supporters that a “political benefactor” showed labourer and farmers cards at rallies. “If you see clearly, it seems that they are referees of a football match. The sea of people on February 8 will evict them out of the ground by showing the yellow card.”

Some of the experts have regarded Sharif as a frontrunner in the elections. Analyst Hamid Mir has claimed that the PML-N supremo would need the support of former PTI leaders Jahangir Khan Tareen and Pervez Khattak to become the prime minister for the fourth time

Tareen and Khattak were once among the close confidants of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, but they parted ways with the former ruling party as the country’s political landscape changed after the no-confidence motion in 2021 and post-May 9 events.

In his address, Sharif said that if got elected he would start train service from Lahore to Sialkot.

“Who says that youth is not with the N-league? All the people in the rally are under the age of 30,” he said and lamented that the country was not like the party left after 2017.

“We have gone too far. If our government was not removed, there would have been jobs for everyone,” Sharif added.